october 2012 - TOJET the Turkish online journal of educational ...

TOJET: The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology – October 2012, volume 11 Issue 4
Novelty (I often have uncommon ideas compared to others) .57 3.21 .78
Exploration (I like to explore unknown areas of knowledge and experience) .57 3.92 .69
Effectiveness (I often complete my tasks by focusing on effective ideas) .52 3.57 .71
Crystallization (I am good at expressing abstract ideas by using concrete examples) .46 3.50 .81
Elaboration (I improve my thoughts by focusing on formalizing ideas) .37 3.44 .82
In reality, design activities are compound processes that often include iterations or re-definitions of the problem.
In order to gain a holistic view of factor structure, the research team combined all the data regarding
environmental influence of the three phases and made an integrative factor analysis. The results indicated that
the 21 items could be organized into four learning environment factors. The first factor, social climate, a
seven-item scale (M = 4.04, SD = .54), measured the extent of which participants reported being influenced by
the climate of the class. The second factor, physical component, a five-item scale (M = 3.55, SD = .48), measured
the degree to which participants considered the facilities and messages in an environment would stimulate
imagination. The third factor, organizational measure, a six-item scale (M = 3.99, SD = .51), assessed
participants’ perceptions of the influence from the institutional structure and organizational measures. The fourth
factor, human aggregate, a three-item scale (M = 3.91, SD = .67), indicated the degree to which participants felt
that their imagination was influenced by the environment’s organizational culture, tradition, or style. This
four-factor solution accounted for 50.05% of the variance. Table 3 reports eigenvalues, factor explained variance,
cumulative accounted variance and Cronbach’s α. Table 4 presents factor loading values of the integrative factor
analysis.
Table 3: Eigenvalues, cumulative accounted variance, and Cronbach’s α of the four factors
Factors Eigenvalues Cumulative variance Cronbach’s α
1: Social climate 8.646 38.86 .87
2: Physical component 1.645 44.31 .79
3: Organizational measure 1.157 47.76 .82
4: Human aggregate 1.009 50.05 .89
Factor
Table 4: Factor analysis of the 21 items in learning environment
Phase 1 to Phase 3
Item
Factor 1: Social climate
F1 F 2 F 3 F 4
Mutual support between teachers and classmates .85
Teacher’s attention over the design process .80
Communication and discussion with classmates .48
The willingness to accept challenges in class .46
Competitive learning climate .44
Climate of respecting diversity and free expression in class .39
Pleasant learning climate
Factor 2: Physical component
.38
Environmental factors such as materials, furnishings, and other interior design .81
Dynamic audiovisual stimuli such as rhythm, sound, and movies .76
Static visual stimuli such as content, composition, and proportion of images .70
Environmental factors such as lighting, sound, and other infrastructure design .62
Public spaces for exhibitions and discussion
Factor 3: Organizational measure
.43
Teacher’s tolerance for error .66
Rich learning resources provided by the department .58
Teacher’s encouragement and praise for taking risk .57
A personal space for creation provided by the department .52
Explanation and guidance offered by teachers during the design process .47
Opportunities provided by teachers for concentration and solitary thinking
Factor 4: Human aggregate
.39
There is a culture on campus of putting imagination into practice .84
There is a tradition of encouraging imagination in the department .80
Teacher’s respect for individual differences .33
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